Leading yourself; to see yourself as others see you
I attended the launch of the Otago University MBA Mentoring Programme last night and am well impressed with the caliber of talent they have drawn together. It’s an emergent and future focused initiative that will no doubt add immense value for students while allowing business people to give back.
In the official speech Mr Ian Flattery of the MBA, told the story of watching the Lion King and explaining to his youg son the meaning of the word “philosophy” as used in one of the songs.
“Son” he said, “philosophy is about what is important to you, the things that you value.”
“So then your philosophy is work and renovation!”
The charming and funny parable, which speaks of knowing how others see us, was an analogy for the inherent value of the mentoring programme, which creates an environment for the types of constructive feedback that will enhance the leadership styles of tomorrows leaders.
Leadership, the collective capacity to create things of value.
Networking, connecting and collaborating - whatever the purpose - talking and working with others is one of the best parts of my job. Last night I went to represent not just myself and Worknow but also an amazing community that I belong to called The Distiller.
The Distiller is a community of young web entrepreneurs based (primarily) out of the Centre For Innovation on the Otago University Campus. We support and encourage each other, offer feedback and share the highs and lows of the new venture journey, together. It is organic, collaborative business community at its best, one which provides a shining example of an environment
“…overwhelmingly governed by the trust/reputation/community approach…” Source
The Distiller also emphasises for me the collective nature of leadership; the realisation of collective potential, working with others in a concerted endeavour to create something of value to all involved. I am so thankful and immensely privileged to be part of such a great group of people. You guys Rock!
Our Values; what is important to us in life and in business
A wise person once told me about the importance of establishing shared values. His advice, when given, was in regards to a personal relationship but being the most inspiring entrepreneurial leader I’ve had the privilege of working with (so far, I expect there will be many more) I naturally applied his advice to working relationships too.
Discovering Shared Values
On the basis of said advice perhaps the most important thing we did in establishing Worknow was to take the time to discuss our values.
Way back right at the beginning, seven months ago, when Jamie and I first began to look at working together we sat down and discussed the values that are important to us. The values that defined who we are, what we do and why we make certain decisions.
This not only helped us recognise that we were highly compatible as business partners it also established our shared set of beliefs with which to guide our venture moving forward. Initially, we listed and expanded upon:
Leadership
Helping People
Community
Business Excellence
Communication
Integrity
Gratitude
Lifestyle
Of One Accord; Refining Our Values
In discussing with Josh whether he would work with us our values were again one of the first things we discussed.And being the gifted young man that he is, Josh helped us to refine our company values even further and so eight became six;
Leadership, Business Excellence and Innovation combined under our value of Excellence
Helping People and Community both focused on the value of Service to Others
Communication and Integrity spoke of one accord
Plus we added Collaboration because it is fundamental to everything we strive to achieve
Our founding company values
It is on the basis of these shared values – recognising each others talents and working together in a spirit of trust and collaboration – that we move our company forward.
EXCELLENCE: We aim to be number one in our field and constantly strive to improve.
SERVICE: Helping people is our passion, exceeding expectations our reward.
INTEGRITY: We keep our promises, treat people fairly and value open and honest communication.
COLLABORATION: talented people, working together for the benefit of each other
BALANCE: work / life – future / present
GRATITUDE: We are thankful for our blessings and embrace both rewarding and challenging circumstances with open hearts.
Our team is our greatest strength
I am so thankful to have Jamie and Josh to work with and I have immense faith in our ability to honour the values we have set or ourselves. With our Beta so close, I thought it timely to reflect on why we are doing this. The hard work is about to begin. I can’t wait! xo
Companies and leaders in today’s knowledge economy are beginning to recognise that traditional command and control methods of leadership are no longer the most effective way to inspire the best from people. Instead there’s a growing recognition that networked collaboration is the way of the future.
Ok, I am bias because collaboration is one of our founding values and I have issues with 80’s management theory. Words like power and control, creep me out.
But no use complaining right, one must act hence our new venture - Worknow - where we connect talented people willing to trust and collaborate with each other and support flexible forms of work such as contract, project, freelance, and volunteer work.
Now, I noticed recently my tendency to sing about co-operation when contemplating ways to collaborate which raises two questions.
1. an act or instance of working or acting together for a common purpose or benefit; joint action.
2. more or less active assistance from a person, organization, etc.: We sought the cooperation of various civic leaders.
3. willingness to cooperate: to indicate cooperation.
4. Economics. the combination of persons for purposes of production, purchase, or distribution for their joint benefit: producers’ cooperation; consumers’ cooperation.
5. Sociology. activity shared for mutual benefit.
6. Ecology. mutually beneficial interaction among organisms living in a limited area.
VS
col⋅lab⋅o⋅ra⋅tion[kuh-lab-uh-rey-shuhn]
NOUN
1. the act or process of collaborating.
2. a product resulting from collaboration: This dictionary is a collaboration of many minds.
Yet, I always “assumed” an interdependence becasue by my understanding effective collaboration requires co-operation. But now to the next question, which speaks even greater volumes about my education…
Why this song? “Co-operation, makes it happen. Co operation, working together”
Clearly it was a song lyric from somewhere and when I goggled the lyrics I was not at all surprised to find that its actually one of the regular skits from an influential childhood programme…go on, take a guess. Here’s a clue. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12…
Saturday 24th October 2009, International Day of Climate Action
This weekend I was absolutely inspired by the collaborative efforts and talents of our young people driving action and solutions for climate change. The leadership that encouraged and inspired action is living proof that Gen Y is a growing force for positive change.
The creation of a Spring Food Festival, that drew more than 15000 visitors to the Dunedin Railway Station on Saturaday, shows that collaboration – with a focus on solutions vs. problems – is the best way to get individuals, communities, countries in fact the entire planet to unite for the common good.
For more information on the wonderful work of 350 teams around aotearoa and the world check out some of these links:-
It’s time to provide greater recognition for all types of volunteer community work because while it’s not the kind of work that “pays the bills” it is the efforts of volunteers in our community, every single day, that connects and holds our society together. Massive Respect.
Without a doubt I believe the time I spent volunteering, after bailing on law school, helped me secure my first real job.
Working for the YMCA as a Gymnastic Instructor and Recreation Assistant was volunteer work experience in the traditional sense. Being new to the workforce it provided me with opportunities in leadership and team work and allowed me to communicate and work with people of all ages.
Personally, the experience is significant in terms of my lifelong aspirations, it highlighted the value of recreational education and the powerful, positive influence of role models on young people. It made me feel like a contributing member of society and in terms of my CV it reflected my willingness to work.
Volunteering for any of the many charitable organisations that support our communities is a great way to build basic work experience and skills.
But if you’re interested in developing more specialist skills, in line with you passions, interests or education then the potential to volunteer your time applies also to company’s that interests you.
It’s a great way to learn about the realities of the workforce to gain an inside look at an organisation and help you to acquire work experience. For a select few it can even lead to jobs.
Indeed several people that I have spoken to in local community organisations say that when taking on new team members they look first to those that have volunteered time with them. Which makes sense right.
Ideally, we’d all like to land the paid internships but in such a competitive market why let those fortunate enough to score places gain extra advantage when you can as easily build work experience alongside them in the same industry with the increased flexibility of a volunteer position.
By creating your Talent Profile here at Worknow, we can help you find and match you talent, skills and interests with both volunteer and paid work opportunities. Register today
I’m excited about the potential of “Aotearoa, World Leaders in Environmental Innovation” and I work towards this goal by supporting and connecting the talents of our nation.
When I spend anytime looking it seems obvious to me that we kiwis have the time, talent and resources to lead the world when it comes to reducing our carbon emissions. It simply will require change because as Albert Einstein points out:-
“…The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them…”
Yet, despite Einsteins wisdom, it seems the potential of our next generation of entrepreneurs – to innovate and create the solutions we need – is being overlooked, or is that ignored? in favour of preserving the status quo.
Let’s support kiwi entrepreneurs as they forge new industries by 2020 from the seeds we plant today.
Sustainable housing. Earth homes and straw houses are just the tip of the iceberg.
Green Education. Thanks to programmes like enviroschools we could potentiality add Enviro. to most of today’s existing job titles
Green energy. Wind Wave Solar Tidal…Check.
My point is simply if we can think of these today, what can we come up with tomorrow? Why limit our future potential by trying to peg it to the realities of today? Our collective potential might even exceed 40% by 2020.
One of the most valuable life lessons learned while building this company is that “…money does not define the limits of what is possible…”
I would not be here today if I’d let a complete lack of funds prevent me from pursuing our vision of this new venture. Or if I feared the stigma of being “unemployed”. By choosing to build my future using the only resources that are truly mine – my time and talents – in collaboration with others, I’ve discovered the freedom to follow my dreams and trust my intuitions. While I may be poor in terms of money I’m undeniably blessed and rich in the things that money can not buy; love, happiness, hope…
Our company, Jamie Josh and I, are living proof of what can be accomplished when people are willing to invest time and talent in lieu of earnings. We hope time trade and the use of time credits will help us all to redefine the value of work to include some of the values that define us as humans; our capacity to love and care for other people, animals and our environment. To share knowledge, collaborate and stand up for the things we believe in.
Every time we reward an act of helping with a time credit, we are declaring that the monetary economy does not have the power to define what real work is, that market price is not the only measure of value and that money does not define the limits of what is possible. Edgar Khan in The Time of Our Lives
I’m inspired by thought leaders like Edgar Cahn because here at Worknow we break from the definition of work as either “employed or unemployed” choosing instead the role of aspiring, social entrepreneur and incorporating the idea of time trade – into a company built to help people find and connect with work – so as to give equal value to both volunteer and paid work opportunities.
We hope that our intention will become more evident when we launch the beta site because Jamie’s created some funky elements, in the navigation and site design, to allow people to easily switch and identify between time trade and paid work options. They are after all two sides of the same coin because as my father used to say “…there’s more than one way to skin a rabbit…”
Being Maori, I was raised with a cultural notion of collective and collaborative action.
As a child my mum and her brother and sisters would spend hours developing their collective world view. To onlookers it could have seemed that they simply talked and argued, often, about the same issues.
Yet, such a simplistic point of view belies the nuances of tribal etiquette that are integral to creating collective purpose. Simple rules that can and should be applied throughout society. For instance:-
When making a decision or deciding on a course of action that affects others, everyone is allowed the chance to voice their opinion.
Inevitably multiple opinions leads to conflict but it is important to recognise this as part of the process, rather than a problem. The discussion should continue for as long as takes for everyone to be heard.
It’s not about majority rule, tribal communities were never a democracy. Leaders must make decisions for others to follow.
Followers need not necessarily agree because in having their voice heard and in listening to others there now exists a shared understanding of why the decision is made.
Tribal etiquette can help build a shared sense of purpose and strengthen teams when we:-
Encourage and support collaborative process that openly allow people to offer their opinion or point of view.
Recognise that conflict is natural and inevitable, it can even be constructive. Note though, it has taken me many years to realise that many people do not share this understanding.
Don’t take conflict too personally, we all have the right to disagree.
Value constructive criticism, what better way to refine and craft ones thinking than to have it challenged.
Worknow is a community and marketplace to help people find, connect and work together
The greater our collective purpose the more shared intelligence we build together the stronger we become.
I studied business extramurally because, as far as I could see, the best way to learn business was simply to get involved. I planned to gain real life business experience while building and diversifying my skills in preparation for “one day” when the right opportunity came along for my own venture start-up.
I never exactly knew when that “one day” might be but I’d been pretty generous and given myself until 35 to discover it, on the basis that I would intuitively know the right opportunity when I saw it. And so in early March 2009 my one day arrived and I was ready.
Status Quo, Schmo
Jamie’s idea to develop an online contractors marketplace to help people find work, immediately struck a chord with me.The idea was, in essence, exactly what I needed and wanted for myself.
It was a means to encourage and support business creators, owners and collaborative teams. It was everything I wasn’t, but wanted to be and I immediately recognised his idea as a means to achieving my longest held work aspiration – to build a company that could truly help people.
We are quite happily, not in keeping with the status quo. Indeed as statistics bemoan rising unemployment I tend to see the job losses as inevitable because for social innovation and change to occur one must in some way destroy the old.
For all practical purposes this meant; if I was actually going to help people be their own boss; if I hoped to promote entrepreneurship and new business creation as a viable alternative to employment; if I was going to prove work existed but that the way we connect with it was changing; I simply could no longer work as a full-time employee
Making the Change
Mentally, in a recession leaving my only secure source of income was a pretty tough call to make. But in life we must take calculated risks. I was determined that money would not hinder my pursuit of the dream and in that decision alone I have learnt lessons for life, about the potential to get work done without the need for cash – ergo Time Trade.
Practically however, it is not at all hard to work your way out of a job. I’m not particularly proud of the way I left my last employee role but it was best for both parties. Indeed the hierarchy and their methods of control and authority, even their use of these words – when I aspire to collaboration and leadership – are driving factors in the development of Worknow.
Worknow
We are building this community and marketplace on the belief that 1) networking platforms can help us find connect and work together in new ways and that 2) there are other talented people here, that seek new more collaborative and flexible ways of working.
With this blog I intend to relate my experience as a business creator, owner and contractor, in hopes that my journey may encourage others along this path.
I came to odds once, with a baby boomer manager, who directed me to “spin” some benefits in a communication to potential clients that I had been working with.
“It’s marketing 101,” she insisted, when I defended my copy as being honest and direct. There were no benefits for the client that I could fathom and when I raised this point she urged that I had best “learn how to spin” marketing copy.
“So you want me to learn to lie,” I thought.
In response I told her that I valued open, honest communication and while I was happy for my draft to be altered, I would not put my name to a communication that I did not support or believe.
Now, we both cared about the project but that I did not “comply” with her direction was solely a values based decision. I did not want to comprise my being open and honest to learn how to “spin” invented benefits for our clients.
I perhaps naively thought such values would be respected but as time showed, she saw me as creating barriers to getting work done rather than being a person of integrity.
Baby Boomer vs Generation Y
In retrospect it is very clear that our generational differences, Baby Boomer vs Gen Y were at the root of our conflict:
[Gen Y are] are less afraid to confront and discuss issues with their peers and their superiors.
And how does this freedom and authenticity translate into the business world? It doesn’t.
It would crush the carefully constructed hierarchical structure to pieces. It’s a strange and obscure network of relationships that determines the real power in businesses.
If everything is said candidly and openly, this network loses its function. People lose their power. Read Source
Gen Y’s need for Authenticity
Because Gen Y want to feel that we work to contribute to something meaningful in this instance the idea of inventing the truth, a.k.a lying, was in stark contrast to my personal need for authenticity yet to my manager it was a learned and acceptable way to convey one’s point.
For me, voicing my personal values, was part of being true to myself but perhaps my manager considered it insubordinate and a threat to her authority.
For my generation (and other people) working together involves connecting and collaborating but many of the old school still adhere to the hierarchical methods of directing and controlling which were once the status quo.
Consequently, to challenge my managers perspective, and assumed authority to direct my “compliance” was to risk my position within the heirarchy.
However, what must be understood about Gen Y is that our need for authenticity is a much stronger driving force than the false sense of security promoted by “employment”.
We are a generation willing to take risks, for ourselves and the things we believe in, which is a symptom of our stronger entrepreneurial tendencies.
Gen Y Perspective
While I am not exactly objective about the scenario related here it is simply a means to discuss what I see as the generational mindset difference between “manager employee” relationships of the past and the more entrepreneurial, collaborative teams of our future.
To qualify my point of view, I recognise that in some industries “employment” will always remain the most effective form of getting work done, retail for instance.
But I believe it is time to recognise that many forms of work in our knowledge economy – web development, design and many creative tasks – need no longer operate as a manager employee relationship.
Indeed, contract outsourcing this type of work will increase productivity and save companies time and money by facilitating a more flexible, motivating work environment for people with specialised talent and skill.
